Only truly tasty and healthy dishes can have a thousand-year history. Chickpea is a variety of peas that is more common in the countries of the Middle East and Asia - the cradle of the most ancient human civilizations. In the East, hummus is a completely independent dish. It is also prepared with vegetables, meat and fish, where chickpeas serve as both the main and additional ingredient.
How did this plant attract attention that for more than seven thousand years it has remained among the popular food products and is even used as a means of traditional medicine, and what dishes can be prepared from hummus - pea porridge in the oriental way?
Chickpeas hummus at home - basic technology principles
Homemade chickpea hummus is a traditional and popular dish in the East and the Mediterranean countries. Actually, there is nothing complicated in the technology of its preparation. The only nuance because of which experienced housewives try to do without chickpeas, as well as without peas, in cooking home dinners is the duration of cooking the product.
Yes, this is an inconvenience, but it is compensated by the nutritional value of lamb peas so much that now, after reading the article, women who pay great attention to healthy and rational nutrition will go to the nearest supermarket to immediately begin culinary experiments in their kitchen.
In countries of Asia and the East, chickpea puree is prepared, as usual, adding traditional spices: cumin, turmeric, paprika - all that is commonly used in the national cuisine of southern countries. In its pure form, chickpea puree tastes almost no different from potato, except for appearance. Only, our favorite, mashed potatoes are less useful.
The not-so-attractive hummus color can be easily changed with the same turmeric, spicy greens or beets. By adding a little color to the pea paste, you can cook another popular dish - falafel. This - pea balls, deep-fried - a very hearty and tasty dish, which can also be varied with the help of various fillings and sauces.
Choose not green, but yellow chickpeas - it has a neutral taste, with a slight nutty aroma. This variety allows you to cook almost any dish based on pea puree: meatballs and meatballs, casseroles, pies - the culinary fantasy will surely tell you what needs to be added to the main ingredient so that the dish becomes your favorite in the family.
1. Cooking hummus from chickpeas at home - the main recipe
Ingredients:
Dried chickpeas 0.5 kg
Cooking water 1.25 L
Hummus - regular pea puree. That is, the first step in cooking is to soak the hard beans and pre-boil them. The beans are thoroughly washed in a large amount of water, then filled with clean water, in a ratio of 1: 2, and kept in a cool place for 10-12 hours, after which the water is drained and clean, cold again, but already in a ratio of 1: 2.5 . Peas are cooked on low heat, in a sealed container, for 60-90 minutes. Cooking time depends on the duration of soaking the beans, the heating temperature. Salt the peas no earlier than 10-15 minutes before the end of cooking, since salt prevents the digestion of products.
To cook puree from chickpeas, a crock-pot is very useful. The finished semi-finished product can be stored in the freezer, in a hermetically sealed container, to speed up the preparation of dishes from pea puree subsequently.
The broth merges when the beans become soft, then - all according to the recipe. What to add to the finished mashed potatoes is decided by the cook, but some ideas can be adopted. They are in the recipes below.
2. Homemade chickpea hummus - ideas for sandwiches
There are many options for making sandwiches based on pea puree: from the classic hummus from chickpeas, with the addition of cumin, olive oil and wine, invented in ancient Rome, to modern fantasies, with the addition of zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, pine nuts or sesame seeds. The texture of mashed potatoes allows you to create real culinary masterpieces, decorating sandwiches with vegetable pastes or meat pastes, added to mashed potatoes made from chickpeas, which have a pleasant, barely distinguishable taste of nuts. Unlike "pigeon", green peas, "mutton" peas have no pronounced taste, so it can be combined with any products.
Ingredients:
Bread Borodinsky 400 g
Chickpea puree (prepared product) 350 g
Parsley (fresh leaves) 140 g
Garlic 40 g
Hot peppers
Salt
Ground cumin
Olive oil 70 ml
1-2 cucumber pickles
Cooking method:
Cut rye bread into slices with a thickness of 0.5-0.7 cm. If desired, you can make them curly, using metal notches. Dry the cuts - they can be used to make kvass.
Put boiled chickpeas, chopped parsley, garlic, caraway seeds, ground red pepper in a blender bowl and thoroughly beat the mixture until smooth. Add olive oil, smash again. Transfer the prepared pasta to a pastry bag and put it on slices of bread. Garnish with salted cucumber plates.
3. Cooking hummus from chickpeas at home - bruschetta with chickpea paste
Ingredients:
Baguette 1 pc.
Brynza (or Feta, Mozzarella) 300 g
Lettuce, basil 150 g
Hummus (mashed potatoes without spices) 300 g
Cherry 6-8 pcs.
Olives (seedless) 5-6 pcs.
Cayenne pepper
Salt
Sesame 50 g
Cooking:
Cut the baguette into slices, grill the pieces. Spread them with hummus, pre-salt and pepper to taste. Put lettuce, sliced cheese, cherry on top. Garnish with olives and sesame seeds.
4. Homemade chickpea hummus with beetroot in pita bread
Ingredients:
Armenian pita 1 pc.
Garlic 50 g
Beets, boiled table 150 g
Chickpea puree 200 g
Dry wine
Hard cheese 250 g
Walnuts 120 g
Mayonnaise 100 g
Olive oil (or nut) 50 ml
Order of preparation:
Chickpea puree, and grated boiled beets, immerse in a blender, add garlic, a little vegetable oil and mayonnaise to give splendor and plasticity to the mass. Interrupt carefully. Grate cheese on a fine grater, chop the fried kernels of nuts.
Expand pita bread on a work surface, sprinkle with wine. Wait a few minutes so that it is better soaked and softened. Brush with cooked pasta, sprinkle with grated cheese and nuts. Roll up the roll, wrap it with foil and keep it in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Cut it into rings, place it on a dish. The appetizer can also be served hot by warming slices of roll in the microwave.
5. Hummus from chickpeas at home: filling for a pie
Ingredients:
Boiled chickpeas 0.5 kg
Onions 250 g
Carrot 200 g
Vegetable oil 150 ml
Salt
Pepper
Cooking method:
Wash the carrots, peel, grate. Dice the peeled onions. Sauté vegetables in plenty of vegetable oil. Combine with boiled chickpeas and beat with a blender until smooth.
Cooked mashed potatoes can be served as a side dish for meat and fish, used as a filling for pies.
6. Homemade chickpea hummus: falafel with cheese
Deep-fried vegetable puree balls are not new in world culinary. Falafel is the same ancient dish as hummus. The dish is based on chickpea puree, but cooked in a special way. How this recipe will become original and loved in the family menu also depends on the imagination of the housewife.
Ingredients:
Hummus (prefabricated) 600 g
Turmeric 10 g
Butter 90 g
Soft cheese, creamy 240 g
Garlic 20 g
Greens to taste
Sun-dried paprika (pieces)
Breadcrumbs 120 g
Egg 1 pc.
Flour 30 g
Fat for deep-frying 300-400 ml (by volume of dishes)
Cooking:
Add melted butter, turmeric to the finished chickpea puree. Try it, season with salt and pepper if necessary, add chopped garlic. Interrupt the resulting mass with a blender.
Chop the cheese finely, combine with chopped parsley, cilantro, basil. If desired, you can add any spices, to taste and mood.
Divide the mashed potatoes into balls weighing 50 g. Put ½ tsp in each billet. toppings. Form the balls so that the filling is inside.
Beat the egg by combining it with a spoonful of flour. Dip the balls in the egg mixture, then bread in the breadcrumbs and immediately carefully transfer to boiling fat.
Fry "falafelki" to a rosy color, completely immersing them in boiling fat.
For serving, decorate the dish with herbs. Pour the balls with your favorite sauce.
There is a version that falafel was invented by monks. Trying to satisfy the need for protein food, they invented cutlets from hummus.
Homemade Chickpea Hummus - Useful Tips
Turkish peas have clear advantages over its closest "bean counterpart". It consists in a higher content of healthy fats and a lower glycemic index. The content of amino acids necessary for a person in chickpeas is two and a half times higher than the same indicator in green peas.
A second comparison of the composition of two related plant species is also a strong argument in favor of chickpeas. Both beans contain carbohydrates, which, as you know, adversely affect the waist, but in chickpeas they are slow, that is, getting into the body, are absorbed gradually, so to speak - as necessary, creating a long-lasting feeling satiety, and not delayed in the form of fat folds on the sides.
Of course, chickpeas have other advantages:
The high fiber content allows the use of chickpeas to cleanse the body. True, for this, chickpeas are consumed raw, soaked peas at night, and then chopped with a meat grinder. The course of purification - 7 days; 3 times a day, one teaspoon on an empty stomach;
Chickpeas increase lactation - it is good to know for nursing mothers;
High magnesium content strengthens the nervous system. It turns out that this is why people in the East always smile calmly and benevolently!
Do not add baking soda when cooking peas. Sodium bicarbonate softens water, not peas. In leguminous plants, sodium is contained in sufficient quantities to provide a daily requirement. An increase in the intake of sodium salts leads to swelling, increased blood pressure, and prevents the absorption of other essential minerals - magnesium, potassium, calcium.
